The TMA department recognized outstanding students in an end-of-year celebration
Each year, students in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts go above and beyond their work in the classroom to participate in capstone and other student projects as well as film festivals, publications and competitions. Read about the achievements of BYU's media arts students over the 2018-19 school year:
FINAL CUT FILM FESTIVAL
Final Cut is an annual film festival sponsored by the media arts program. Submissions are open to all BYU students and are chosen by a committee of media arts faculty and staff. The festival ended with an awards ceremony highlighting winners selected by a panel of guest judges made up of industry professionals. The 2018 winners were:
Director Jeffrey Hein on the set of "Passenger Seat." (Braden Wake)
Best Fiction
"Passenger Seat" directed by Jeffrey Hein
Best Non-Fiction
"Dreamers" directed by Catherine Santos Pearce
Best Editing
"Gather" directed by Howie Burbidge
Best Cinematography
"Gather" directed by Howie Burbidge
Best Production Design
"Gather" directed by Howie Burbidge
Best Sound Design
"To Have and To Hold" directed by Colton Elzey
Audience Favorite
"Anna" directed by William Knowles
"Gather" directed by Howie Burbidge
VERA HINCKLEY MAYHEW SCREENWRITING CONTEST
The Vera Hinckley Mayhew Student Creative Arts Contests was launched in 1963 to recognize achievements in short story writing. The competition has continued annually, adding seven additional contests — including the Screenwriting Contest — to honor the work of BYU students in various avenues of creative writing and the fine arts. The 2019 winners were:
Television Spec Script Category
First Place | "Modern Family: Lemons Out of Lemonade" by Eleanor Briggs
Feature Length Script Category
First Place | "Ed's Year of 2015" by Eleanor Briggs
Second Place | "Lovebirds" by Lauren Finlinson
Third Place | "Luis" by Colby Barrios
On the set of fiction capstone "Paper Trails." (Alyssa Lyman)
Short Film Script Category
First Place | "Dakota" by Hannah Hansen
Second Place | "Gjakova" by Jacob Watson
Third Place | "The Man in the Tree" by Weber Griffiths
APERTURE MEDIA JOURNAL AWARDS
Aperture is BYU's journal of media arts. It showcases essays, screenplays and new media work selected by a student editorial board under the supervision of an advisory board of media arts faculty. The journal is open to all current BYU students.
Essays
"Space and Place in Visages Villages" by Sam Moynihan
"Looking at Empowered Women Through Voyeur-tinted Glasses" by Mariah Johnson
"Triforce of the Gods" by Barrett Burgin
Screenplays
"Chasing Planes" by Eleanor Briggs
"The Man in the Tree" by Weber Griffiths
"MERLE" by Liam Isaak
New Media
"Welcome to My Brain" by MarKaye Hassan and Hannah Holst
"Cursed Curriculum" by Max Johnson and Cassidy Featherstone
DEPARTMENT AWARDS
Students were honored by media arts faculty and staff in the annual end-of-year awards celebration on Thursday, April 11.
On the set of new media capstone "How Can I Help." (Alyssa Lyman)
Excellence in Media Arts Fiction
Awarded for outstanding work on the 2018-2019 fiction capstone films
Connor Bennett
Stephanie Bogdan
Rick Chestnut
Emma Decker
Elizabeth Elieson
Trevor Free
Hannah Hansen
Oscar Jimenez
Emily McNey
Celene Mitchell
Eleanor Peatross
Kylier Pusillo
Devin Sudweeks
Matthew Taggart
Daniel Taylor
Barrett Burgin
Heather Moser
Luis Puente
Jared Richardson
Excellence in Media Arts Non-Fiction
Awarded for outstanding work on the 2018-2019 documentary capstone films
Eleanor Peatross
Kylier Pusillo
Austin Davis
Excellence in Media Arts Critical Studies
Awarded for outstanding work in critical studies.
Zach Miller
Max Johnson
Jaye Abhau
Cristin Lunt
Excellence in Media Arts Writing
Jenna Rasmussen
Luis Puente
Hannah Hansen
Matthew Taggart
Animation "You Done Good Kid" Award
Kaede Takeshige
Excellent Media Arts TAs and Employees
Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants
Jaye Abhau
Hannah Hughes
Lauren Brunken
Jenna Rasmussen
Liam Isaak
Zach Miller
Elias Gold
Heather Moser
Abi Hunsaker
Jacob Watson
Amy Burton
Dallin Penrod
Weber Griffiths
James May
Sam Burton
MarKaye Hassan
Elena Bender
Brendan Decicio
Kennedy Koford
Mariah Johnson
Trevor Oman
Cristin Lunt
Riley Jeffs
Sam Haskin
Media Arts Lab (MAL) Employees
Stephanie Bogdan
Christena Taylor
Sarah Lawrence
Teilani Leaupepetele
Jake Peterson
Oscar Jimenez
Nathan Tanner
Jared Richardson
Matt Grooms
Emily Hyatt
The Media Arts Women and Film Scholarship Nominees
Alana Couto
Hannah Hansen
Jenna Rasmussen
Media Arts Outstanding Student Award
Awarded to graduating seniors who made significant contributions to the media arts program during their time at BYU
Barrett Burgin
Heather Moser
Abi Hunsaker
Jared Richardson
Hannah Hughes
Hannah Holst